DisVillain
Community Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2018
- Messages
- 35
- Reaction score
- 33
Hi everyone! I am doing this Nano build with my husband, Dave. We are new to the saltwater hobby, but he had a 75g freshwater tank years ago, and brings valuable experience to the table for this build. We have a couple different plans for tank builds; first up is this Nano build for the living room, and the second project is 'His/Hers' 50g cubes build which we'll start around this year's end or early 2019.
We are going with the IM Nuvo 10, and Dave will build a tank stand for it. Also doing a QT setup, so the QT needs to be painted. (I heard that painting a QT black helps reduce stress in fish.) I read about the importance of keeping the DT and QT far apart from each other to reduce cross contamination, so the QT will be in a spare bedroom, while the DT is slated for the living room. Extra equipment will be purchased, so nothing will be shared between tanks.
Dave and I like different substrates, and lights, but we were able to agree on the style for the nano build. Maybe it's because we each get to have our own 50g down the road, that it's easy to compromise and style the Nano together! Here's what we've decided so far:
Tank Plans:
Heater: Cobalt 50w
Return Pump – Sicce 0.5 Dave noticed other Nuvo 10 owners saying the stock return pump was loud, so we're switching it out.
Marco Rocks
RO/DI system – Dave will set it up in the basement
IM SpinStream Flow Nozzle
IM Custom Caddy Media Basket
Lights: Kessil A80 – This is really for me! Dave isn't as much into Kessils as I am, and he'll probably do something different for his 50g build. But he's ok with this choice for the nano, so yay!
Substrate: CaribSea Natural Reef live sand – This is more of Dave's liking. I like pink sand, but that's something I can look into for my 50g. PetCo had the Natural Reef sand in stock, so we were able to see it in person, and I like it more than I thought I would. So yay, again!
I made the first purchase for this project, (Nuvo 10), on Feb. 11th. Ordered from BRS, and they shipped out that Monday, Feb. 12th, with the tank arriving on Feb. 14th. The rubber foam mat was already attached to bottom of the tank when it arrived. Yay! One less thing to do. Really impressed with how well the shipping box was padded.
Shipping Box:
Very well packed:
Let's start this Nano build!
Nano Plans
Nano Plans
We are going with the IM Nuvo 10, and Dave will build a tank stand for it. Also doing a QT setup, so the QT needs to be painted. (I heard that painting a QT black helps reduce stress in fish.) I read about the importance of keeping the DT and QT far apart from each other to reduce cross contamination, so the QT will be in a spare bedroom, while the DT is slated for the living room. Extra equipment will be purchased, so nothing will be shared between tanks.
Dave and I like different substrates, and lights, but we were able to agree on the style for the nano build. Maybe it's because we each get to have our own 50g down the road, that it's easy to compromise and style the Nano together! Here's what we've decided so far:
Tank Plans:
Heater: Cobalt 50w
Return Pump – Sicce 0.5 Dave noticed other Nuvo 10 owners saying the stock return pump was loud, so we're switching it out.
Marco Rocks
RO/DI system – Dave will set it up in the basement
IM SpinStream Flow Nozzle
IM Custom Caddy Media Basket
Lights: Kessil A80 – This is really for me! Dave isn't as much into Kessils as I am, and he'll probably do something different for his 50g build. But he's ok with this choice for the nano, so yay!
Substrate: CaribSea Natural Reef live sand – This is more of Dave's liking. I like pink sand, but that's something I can look into for my 50g. PetCo had the Natural Reef sand in stock, so we were able to see it in person, and I like it more than I thought I would. So yay, again!
I made the first purchase for this project, (Nuvo 10), on Feb. 11th. Ordered from BRS, and they shipped out that Monday, Feb. 12th, with the tank arriving on Feb. 14th. The rubber foam mat was already attached to bottom of the tank when it arrived. Yay! One less thing to do. Really impressed with how well the shipping box was padded.
Shipping Box:
Very well packed:
Well, we do live in a new construction area, on city water. Our house was built 2 years ago, and three houses are being built right next to us as I write this. Not sure if that's the reason for the high TDS or not. I started watching BRS videos immediately on packing our own DI resin to save $$! 
